Fight Or Flight
Reviewed by:
vppark2, on september 17, 2012 2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Sound: These guys certainly are one of those bands who can be categorized for making soft, loving songs, which can be love ballads. I am glad to hear that this is a solid effort though. I felt as if their past releases were all lacking something. They all seemed to be so cliche-ish. Although this is not the type of band to bring forth great guitar licks, and such, they still bring forth some heartfelt, calming, and sometimes rock your head type tunes. // 8

Lyrics: Lyrically I thought this album was much better than any of their past albums. This one just seemed right on. In the opener track, "This Is Gonna Hurt", it starts out with a dunnehdunnehdun. This took me by surprise when I slid the CD in the stereo of my car to be met with this sound. "I've been living for too long. With a feeling something's wrong. Like a thorn stuck in my side. Just out of reach for me to pull it out. Now the picture's crystal clear. I can see that the end is near. We no longer to have pretend. All things have got to come to an end." This was met up for the first verse after I drove out of the Best Buy parking lot, happily gripping my hand on the prized possession. Then came a red light, and I was utterly angry by the time being 12:27, and I had to get back to class at 12:30 (yup this was in between classes and I was half an hour late to be exact). This song took a fork in the road though as I was driving, or... Er... speeding, ravaging this gift of music.
2nd track comes on, called, "You Before Me". "Tell me everything you need. All the secrets that you keep. Even if it takes all day. Even if it takes all night. I can put the world on hold. So you and I can be alone. Even if it takes all day. Even if it takes all night. I would do anything for you. I always will put you before me." The next song called, "The Fallen", would probably have to be my favorite song off the album. The intro, which starts off with, "Everything I know will change, I'll never be the same. So I'm told as a voice repeats "Again, again and again" What if it doesn't feel like everyone said it should? What have I become?" I liked the transition from spoken soft, to sing loudly with distortion. I'm skipping the next 2 tracks, not because they're bad, but there wasn't anything quite noteworthy enough. "Slow Down" has such a catchy chorus, by the way. Up until this point of the album, each song seems to link towards each other, which in a way threw me off. "A Thousand Words", however, is fantastic. A nice slow song to close out the album. "It's hard to say goodbye. And leave a part of me. These walls will hold so many memories. Underneath my smile. Holding back a scream. Packing up a box of broken dreams." // 8

Overall Impression: Say what you want about this band, but I think they've still got it. I think that they've finally got it together again, and they're not just some Incubus clone. I love the way tey do their love ballads, and their heartfelt songs, but I think they still need to get on the ball with some more in your face type stuff, and maybe they'll get more recognized. Overall, this was a great album. Not sure if I'd go out of my way to buy it again though. // 7

Fight Or Flight
Reviewed by:
halestormlessth, on december 07, 2012 0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sound: Hoobastank's new album has taken a drastic new direction in sound, No longer are they making only heart-felt ballads but also epic alternative rock songs. The new album boosts in creativity and originality with Doug's vocals better than ever and the whole band stepping up to show their true talent. The overall sound of the record is a mixture of old Hoobastank, Lostprophets (older stuff) and Darling Thieves. The album also has a great range of songs with ballads like "Slow Down" and edgy rock songs like "This Is Gonna Hurt" and "The Fallen". This is by far the best Hoobastank album ever created. // 10

Lyrics: Doug's songwriting appears of a darker nature this album with "No Destination" boosting lyrics such as - the stars will be my company tonight - and "The Fallen" - be careful what you wish for cause your wishes may not be what they seem. The lyrics show a new level of maturity for Hoobastank and how much they have all grown as song writers over the year. Moreover, the lyrics flow perfectly with the new slightly heavier sound of the band creatiing a truly memorable record and one of the best of 2012. // 10

Overall Impression: If Hoobastank keep up this new sound they are sure to make plenty more fans in the near future. They will also gain respect of many more people being one of the few bands this year not to have sold out and make a shit album, yes I'm talking to you Muse. The album is extremely hard to pick favorites from but the best songs would have to be "No Win Situation", "This Is Gonna Hurt", "No Destination", "The Fallen" and "You Before Me". This could possibly be a very exciting new beginning for Hoobastank and the future of alternative rock.

I'll be picking this up today. Not because of the review, but because these guys put out solid effort after solid effort. I still think their best album is Every Man For Themself. They're more than capable of some very heavy songs, and i think they do that best out of everything they do.

I think The Reason is their best album, despite how shitty the title song is. It's an almost perfect album for me.
Basketball Shorts is also awesome, but I don't count it because it's a totally different style.

You're going to find this album terribly boring if you think it's going to be hard-hitting and rock-anthem oriented like their self-titled and The Reason. This album starts off decent, but from about the 4th song on, it's all soft ballads which I find pretty boring, but if you dig songs like "The Reason" and "If I Were You", you'll probably really like it.